John E. Nish is currently a Product Engineer at Wellman Dynamics (WDC Acquisition, LLC) in Creston, Iowa, where he has served in a variety of positions since 2006. WDC is a major manufacturer of large, high-complexity aerospace castings made from various magnesium and aluminum alloys. Nish has spent much of his career balancing the use of technical problem-solving approaches with teaching and mentoring young engineers so that they may reach their own potentials. Beginning his engineering career in the semiconductor industry, Nish was initially an Advanced Assembly Packaging Engineer for United Technologies Mostek Corporation (UTMC), before moving to Texas Instruments (TI) as a Process Engineer in the areas of photolithography, metallization, and diffusion. He was brought on board at Varo Semiconductor, Inc (VSI) as Senior Development Engineer to design, equip, staff, and start up VSI’s first ever clean room for power Darlington, night vision, and thermoelectric cooler semiconductor production. He moved into product design and development in his roles as Technical Product Manager for Olin Corporation and Applications Engineering Manager for the startup Advanced Delivery and Chemical Systems (ADCS). Nish led an international manufacturing and turnkey assembly operation as Engineering Manager at AEC Enterprises before serving as Engineering Manager and Product Engineer at WDC. Nish developed an educational training program for operators in conjunction with the Training and Development Department while at TI, and he has taught both as an adjunct and as guest lecturer at several colleges. He received his B.S. in Ceramic Engineering (Materials Science) from Iowa State University, as well as his M.Div. from Luther Rice and has worked toward his M. A. in Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS). Nish is an active member of American Foundry Society (AFS) and SAE International’s Aerospace Materials Specification (AMS) committees, and he serves on a variety of committees in three divisions of American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM). He is a Life Member of the ISU Alumni Association and a member of the Marston Club.
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